Word game device



Nov. 19, 1968 Filed July 15, 1965 Fig./

C OUT M. D. cuARK 3,411,221

WORD GAME DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig. 2

uAQII Q'lll Fig.4

Me/ford 0. Clark INVENTOR.

NOV. 19, 1968 I D, CLARK 3,411,221

WORD GAME DEVICE Filed July 15, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 s N x E B Q z v IHg. 5 W i R P A! u Y T o b L D v F g l J Fig. 6

INVENTOR. Me/ford D. Clark United States Patent 3,411,221 WORD GAMEDEVICE Melford D. Clark, 4068 Ridge Road, Cleveland, Ohio 44109Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 434,570, Feb. 23, 1965. Thisapplication July 13, 1965, Ser. No. 477,069

10 Claims. (Cl. 35-9) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A word game device inwhich an article such as a card representing an unknown word containsindicia which when compared with means representing selected known wordsindicate the number of letters common to the unknown word and theselected known words. Successive comparisons are made with differentknown words to determine the unknown word.

This application is a continuation-in-part of my cpending applicationSer. No. 434,570, filed Feb. 23, 1965, and entitled Word Game Device.

The present invention generally relates to a game device incorporatingsets of cards with which a word game may be played or a puzzle solved.

In the game device of the present invention, which may be played by oneor more persons, sets of cards are provided with certain of the cardshaving a predetermined arrangement of holes therein for representing anunknown word. One of these cards is selected and is placed against acard having a blackened area thereon, representing a known word, for thepurpose of determining and indieating how many letters in the unknownword appear in the known word. By using a systematic comparisonprocedure with various known word cards, the unknown word can bedetermined. Thus, a highly entertaining and educational type of gamedevice is provided.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention includes the use oftwenty-six key words which may be employed to determine over two hundredunknown words. The twenty-six words are presented by twenty-six cardsknown as blackout cards, each of which has a black area thereon. Foroverlying these cards, a larger number of cards having holes thereindesignated game cards are provided. In the preferred embodiment, eachkey word and each unknown word consists of six letters. When a game cardis successively placed over different blackout cards, a player discoversthe number of letters that are common to the unknown word represented bythe game card and to each key word represented by the blackout cards. Bycomparing the key words, i.e., known words, with each other and byconsidering the number of letters common to those words and the unknownword, the player can logically and positively determine the presence orabsence of certain letters in the unknown word represented by the gamecard. When all letters are determined, they are arranged into theunknown word. This game device enables an interesting game to be playedby one or more individuals when playing solitary, or by a number ofplayers playing together.

Briefly, each blackout or known-word card is constructed withletter-indicating indicia, such as black or colored areas, holes, etc.Each game card or unknown-word card is constructed with apertures thatrepresent each letter of the unknown word. The same letter of thealphabet is represented on all cards at a corresponding location, andeach different letter is at a different location. Thus, common lettersin the words of any two cards, e.g., in a game card and a known-wordcard, are manifested by an alignment or registry of the respectiveapertures and indicia of the cards when the cards are superimposed.

3,411,221 Patented Nov. 19, 1968 A feature of the present invention isthe provision of a worksheet of score pad having the known words printedthereon as well as the letters of the alphabet in order to enable theplayers to record the number of letters in the unknown word appearing ina particular known word so that comparative analysis can be undertakenwith the least possible chance of error.

Accordingly, the objects of the present invention are to provide a gamedevice which is not only highly entertaining and educational but alsorequires a considerable degree of concentration and skill and certainlyincreases a persons vocabulary and is generally inexpensive tomanufacture.

Other features and embodiments of this invention will be readilyappreciated as the invention becomes better understood by reference tothe following detailed description, when considered in connection withthe accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of a score pad employed in the presentinvention;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of a group of representative cards;

FIGURE 3 illustrates the manner of positioning the cards in overlyingrelation;

FIGURE 4 is a plan view illustrating the manner of revealing portions ofthe blackened area of an underlying card through the holes in anoverlying card;

FIGURE 5 is a diagrammatic representation of the cards used in thepresent invention showing an arrangement of areas or locations on thecards for representin the different letters of the alphabet; and

FIGURE 6 is a plan view of another embodiment of a known-word card wherethe letters of the word are represented by an aperture or apertures inthe card rather than by a blackened area.

Referring now specifically to FIGURE 1, a score pad or sheet 10 isprovided with the name of the game Blackout 12 across the top andtwenty-six six-letter words 14 are imprinted in columns at the topthereof with a space 16 at the end of each word for writing down certaininformation defined hereinafter. Each word corresponds to the known wordon one of the known-word cards. Below the printed words, alphabeticalletters 18 are provided across the top of an open space 20. A scorerecording line 22 is provided at the bottom right hand corner of thespace 20. The printed material appearing on the score pad 10 isduplicated at the bottom thereof and the manner of using the score pador sheet 10 will become apparent during further discussion of theinvention.

FIGURE 2 represents two types of cards employed in the presentinvention. The cards 24, 26 and 28, represent Blackout cards and eachhas a different known word 30 printed on one surface thereof and ablackened area 32 imprinted on the other surface thereof along with thename Blackout. Twenty-six known-word cards are used in the preferredembodiment, although the number may be varied, as may the wordsthemselves. Suitable known words are shown on the score pad of FIGURE 1.The other set of cards employed represents unknown words and aredesignated by numeral 34. These cards have been designated as gamecards, with the name of the cards being shown at 36. The cards 34 have apredetermined arrangement of holes or apertures 38 for revealing theblackened area 32 of a known word card through certain of the holes 38depending upon the shape and configuration of each blackened area andthe orientation and arrangement of the holes 38. The number of gamecards that may be used depends upon the number of words that can be madefrom the number of letters used. For example, where the game isconstructed using six-letter words, at least 200 words exist and aseparate game card may be supplied for each existing word.

The shape and configuration of each blackened area 32 is determined byfixed, but arbitrarily selected, positions assigned to each letter inthe alphabet, as illustrated by the master card 40 in FIGURE 5. Thiscard 40 does not form a part of the game, but may be used inconstructing the game and is disclosed here to indicate the manner inwhich the appropriate locations of the holes and blackened areas of thecards may be determined. While it would suffice to merely blackenindividual areas of the knownword cards at the locations correspondingto the letters of the word, a more mysterious pattern, as illustrated bythe area 32, conceals the correlation between the letters and theirrepresentative location on the cards. Of course, the pattern cannotblacken areas corresponding to letters no contained in the known word.

Similarly, the holes in each game card or unknown-word card are placedin areas corresponding to the letters of the unknown word, in accordancewith the positions assigned to the letters of the alphabet, asillustrated in FIGURE 5.

It will be apparent, therefore, that letters common to any game card andto any known-word card will be manifested by a superimposition of theholes of the game card with the black area of the known-word card whenthe two cards are placed one over the other, in proper registry;

that is, with their margins aligned and with the top of each with theproper card surface facing the player, i.e., so that the game card isnot inadvertently turned over.

In playing a game, the Game card 34 is disposed in superimposed relationto one of the Blackout cards 24, 26, 28 having a blackened area 32corresponding to the word 30 on the back of the card, with the wordbeing known. For example, if the card 24 is being used, and the gamecard 34 is superimposed the'reover, as illustrated in FIGURE 4, it willbe observed in FIGURE 4 that three letters in the unknown word appear inthe word ambush depicted by card 24. The player then would write thenumber three in the blank space 16 alongside of the word ambush on thescore pad and the card 34 would then be disposed over another Blackoutcard. The player would then record the number of letters appearing inthe unknown word alongside of the known word.

In a detailed example, if a Game card 34 having the holes 38 therein isplaced over the Blackout card having the word doubly appearing thereon,the card 34 will reveal the blackened area through three holes. Fromthis,

it is known that three letters of the unknown word appear in the worddoubly. However, the three particular letters are not known.

Inasmuch as the only dilference between the word double and doubly isthe change from the letter y to the letter e, if it is found that whenthe unknown apertured card 34 is placed over the Blackout card fordouble, that four of the letters of the unknown word appear in doubleand with the same unknown apertured card three of the letters of theunknown word appear in double, it is then deduced that the letter e isone of the six letters of that unknown word. The letter y is not in theunknown word for, if it were, there would have been four blackened holesin the comparison to the Blackout card doubly.

Since it is now known that the letter e is in the unknown word, if acomparison to the Blackout card shaver reveals only one blackened area,this operation would deduce that the letters s, h, a, v, and r are notin the unknown word.

From the foregoing, the player makes the following notes on the pad 10.The letter e in the alphabet 18 is encircled and this letter may also becircled in the words 14 where they appear. The letter e is also enteredin one of the blank spaces 40 on the score pad at the center thereof.The letters y, s, h, a, v and r are scratched out or crossed offwherever they appear in the alphabet and in the words 14. This procedureis then continued with other known-word cards until the six unknownletters in the unknown word are determined and these letters are thenrearranged to form a word. Initially, it may take ten or morecomparisons before a definite conclusion can be reached. However, withpractice and concentration, the game may be played and the puzzle solvedby determining the unknown word in a lesser number of comparisons. Thescore line 22 may be employed for indicating the number of comparisonsnecessary for determining the particular unknown word represented by thegame card 34.

The game device of the present invention is adapted for use by a singleperson in playing solitary in which an arbitrary number of comparisonsis selected as a standard for determining a predetermined number ofunknown words by comparing the unknown word card 34 with the Blackoutcard corresponding to the list of known words. Additional and morecomplex unknown word cards may be provided as required and a solutioncard may be provided for each set of unknown cards. Also score cards maybe made available if desired.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of a preferredembodiment and the principles of the invention, and it will be apparentto those skilled in the art that numerous modifications or alterationsmay be made without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention, as set forth in the appended claims. For example, as shown inFIGURE 6, known-word cards 280 may be provided with an arrangement ofholes, cut out pattern, or transparent areas in predeterminedarrangement representing the letters of the known Word. Cut out areas320, 321 are shown by way of example. When a game card 34 issuperimposed, a coincidence of letters will be manifested by analignment of the holes of the game card with the holes, cut out patternor transparent areas of the known-word card. This will allow light topass through certain of the holes of the game card, indicating thenumber of common letters. With this arrangement cards can be constructedto be used with projectors to project upon a screen the known word andthe indication of the number of common letters, facilitating groupparticipation.

Various means may be used to indicate a proper orientation of the cardsduring comparison of a known-word card with an unknown-word card. Forexample, in addition to or in lieu of the printed indicia for thispurpose, already described, an off-center notch may be placed at a givenposition in one margin of each card. The notches will be aligned whenthe cards are properly superimposed.

In the preferred embodiment, the known and unknown words are representedby playing cards. Alternatively, it is contemplated that other means maybe used to represent the known and unknown words and to indicate thenumber of letters common to each. For example, the known words may beindicated only on a score pad of the type disclosed. A playmaster orproctor may then announce or display the number of letters common to aselected unknown word and a known word on the score pad selected by theplayer. For this purpose the proctor may use a master chart that liststhe number of letters common to any unknown word and the preselectedknown words on the score pad with which the game is played. Othervariationsof this approach for either group or solitary play will beobvious to those skilled in the art. For example, each sheet of thescore pad may represent an unknown word and the number of letters commonto each of the known words on the pad may be shown, leaving it up to theplayer to quickly select the most useful information and determine theunknown word. One variant of this would be to conceal and selectivelyreveal the filled in information disclosing the number of letters commonto the unknown word and the known words on the sheet.

While a game using six letter English words has been illustrated by wayof example, Words with more letters or fewer letters may be used, andthe game can be readily adapted to other languages. Also, as usedherein, the term color or colored area is meant to include black, graysand white on contrasting backgrounds, as well as chromatic color.

What is claimed is:

1. A word game device comprising a set of cards each card having a knownword thereon and a distinguishably colored area thereon representing theknown word, a set of cards representing unknown words with each cardrepresenting an unknown word having a predetermined arrangement of holestherein, said cards constructed and arranged so that when anunknown-word card is superimposed over the distinguishably colored areaof selected known-word cards the distinguishably colored area of theknown-word card will be revealed through a predetermined arrangement andnumber of holes in the unknownword card, said predetermined number ofholes through which the distinguishably colored area is revealed byvirtue of the predetermined arrangement corresponding to the number ofletters which are common to the known word and unknown word.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein the known words are printed on one sideof the cards of the first said set of cards and the colored areasrepresenting the known words are printed on the other side of the saidcards.

3. The game device as defined in claim 1 together with a score sheethaving the known word printed thereon with a space adjacent each knownword in order to enable the number of letters appearing in the knownword which also appear in the unknown word to be recorded alongside ofthe known word on the score sheet, said score sheet also havingalphabetical indicia thereon for enabling the letters of the alphabet tobe indicated as included or not, or included in the unknown word fordetermining the unknown word by superimposing the unknown-word card overa minimum number of known-word cards.

4. The game device as defined in claim 1 wherein said distinguishablycolored area is of predetermined shape and is fiat, all of said cardsbeing of exactly the same size and having indicia thereon indicating themanner of orientation of the cards when superimposed for comparisonpurposes.

5. A word game device comprising a set of cards each card having a knownword thereon and indicia representing the known word, a set of cardsrepresenting unknown words with each card representing an unknown wordhaving a predetermined arrangement of holes therein, said sets of cardsbeing so constructed and arranged that when an unknown-word card issuperimposed over the indicia of selected known-word cards the indiciaof the knownword card will coincide through a predetermined arrange mentand number of holes in the unknown-word card, said predetermined numberof holes which coincide with the indicia of the known-word card byvirtue of the predetermined arrangement corresponding to the number ofletters which are common to the known word and unknown word.

6. A word game device comprising a set of cards each card having a knownword on one surface thereof and a predetermined arrangement of a hole orholes representing the letters of the known word in that known-Wordcard, a set of cards representing unknown words with each cardrepresenting an unknown Word having a predetermined arrangement of holestherein, an unknownword card being superimposed over selected known-wordcards, whereby the hole or holes of the known-word card will becoincidental with a predetermined number of holes of the unknown wordthrough which light may pass, said predetermined number of holescorresponding to the number of letters which are common to the knownword and unknown word.

7. The game device as defined in claim 4 wherein the predetermined shapeof the colored area is irregular.

8. A word game device comprising a first set of cards each card having aknown word thereon and indicia, such as a design on a surface of eachcard which contrasts with other areas of the card surface, which indiciarepresent by their location the letters of the known word on the cardand are present in the same relative location on each card for any givenletters of the alphabet, a second set of cards representing unknownwords, and apertures in the cards of the second set representing theletters of the unknown word of each card of said second set, saidapertures being in the same relative location on each card for any givenletter of the alphabet, whereby when a card of the second set is placedover a card of the first set the number of letters common to the knownword and the unknown word represented by the two cards are indicated.

9. A word game device comprising a card representing an unknown word,indicia on the card for indicating the number of letters common to theunknown word and selected ones of predetermined known words, and meansto be superimposed with said unknown-word card and representative ofknown words, which means through a predetermined positional relationshipestablished between the indicia of said card and said means when the twoare superimposed in a predetermined orientation, makes perceivable thenumber of letters common to the unknown word represented by the card anda selected known word.

10. A word game device as set forth in claim 9 further including aplaying sheet having known words thereon with a space adjacent eachknown word in order to enable the number of letters appearing in theknown word which also appear in the unknown word to be recordedalongside of the known word on the sheet, said sheet also havingalphabetical indicia thereon for enabling the letters of the alphabet tobe indicated as included or not included in the unknown word fordetermining the unknown word.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 9/1953 Conger 35-9 4/1966 Irwin273-1521

